Saturday, June 09, 2007

Every one's heard of the Seven Wonders of the World but few have actually seen them.Why? Well, it's mainly because only one out of the six 'Must See' destinations, the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt, is actually still standing.

So with the Seven Wonders of the World no longer actually giving wonder to the world, in 2000 it seemed the perfect time to start again and nominate Seven New Wonders.

Launched in 2000 by the New 7 Wonders Society, a Swiss group with the preservation of man-made heritage close to its heart, the hunt was on for the new seven wonders of the world.

With strict rules like all nominations having to be man-made, be in an "acceptable" state of preservation and to have been completed by 2000, 30 potential wonders are short listed and the Taj Mahal at Agra (India) is amongst them.

Nominations were whittled down by public votes to 77 last year. Then a panel of architectural experts, chaired by former UNESCO chief Federico Mayor, shortened the list to 21. Interest has grown as Weber and his 10-member team visit the 21 sites. Their final visit will be March 6, 2007 to New York's Statue of Liberty.

In fact the Taj Mahal is the only Indian landmark to have made it in to the short list.

With 21 new world wonder finalists battling it out for just seven places, the Taj Mahal is, up against some pretty heavy weight competition including the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis, The Inca City of Machu Picchu in Peru and of course the Pyramids.

But with the New 7 Wonders due to be announced live on television around the world on 7th July, 2007, you've still got a bit of time left to cast your vote.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Pancharatna kritis (Sanskrit pancha, five + ratna, gem) are a set of five kritis (songs) in Carnatic music, composed by Tyagaraja.

Saint Tyagaraja is probably the most well known of the composers in Carnatic music which is the classical music of South India. He lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century in Tiruvayyaru in Tanjore district in modern day Tamil Nadu. He is listed along with Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri as the 'Musical Trinity' of Carnatic Music. His compositions are well known and sung today in classical music concerts. Around 750 of his compositions survive today. A key feature of his compositions is that very serious philosophical and even general themes relating to the human condition are set in a religious context accompanied by musicality of a very high order and all this in very simple colloquial Telugu which is easily understood by the common person.

The Pancharatna kritis of Tyagaraja are in praise of his beloved deity, Lord Ramachandra and are long and extremely skilful musical compositions. They are actually set in the style of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi (RTP) with the charanas (stanzas) substituting for the kalpana swaras (improvisatory passages) in the pallavi section of the RTP.

The ragas or melodic forms of these compositions (Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali, Sri) are the five Ghana ragas of Carnatic music also called the ghanapanchaka. They are so called because they are suited to playing tanam on the veena. Nata and Varali are the most ancient of the Carnatic ragas and date back 1000 years.

A particularly difficult musical challenge has been taken up successfully by Tyagaraja in three of these compositions. The raga Nata has a particularly distinctive use of the 'dhaivatam' note or swara. Tyagaraja has avoided the 'dhaivatam' completely in the first pancharatna kriti without losing the swarupa of Nata ragam. Similarly 'gandharam' is an accidental note of some beauty in Gaula. Tyagaraja avoids this too (except in one instance) without losing the character of the raga. Finally, he avoids the accidental 'dhaivatam' in Sri ragam, again a note that is present in some very characteristic sancharas of this raga. It requires musicality of a very high order to do something like this not once but three times in very common and much loved ragas like these.

Balamurali Krishna

Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna is one of southern India's most influential vocalists and composers. Known for the optimism and clarity of his three-octave vocals, Balamuralikrishna has consistently displayed a mastery of classical musical traditions of India and has composed more than four hundred pieces. In addition to performing more than 18,000 concerts throughout the world, Balamuralikrishna has released more than 250 cassettes in his native country. According to Swarmi Chimayanda, when you listen to Balamuralikrishna's music, "you can realize what the crazy gropies felt in their ectasy of divine love". A native of Sankaraguptan, a small village in Rojolu Taluk in the East Godvari District of Andhra Prodesh, Balamuralikrishna inherited his musical skills from his parents. His father, Pattabiramayya, played flute, violin and veena, and, his mother, Suryakantamma, played veena.